A Michigan-based charter airline company has paid the city of Long Beach $54,000 for operations that violated the city’s airport noise ordinance, the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday.
The payment by Kalitta Charters was part of a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office after the office filed a criminal complaint alleging 13 misdemeanor charges in April 2015, for operations between June 2014 and March 2015 in which Kalitta flights violated the noise ordinance, officials said.
“This agreement will help protect the community from excessive airport noise, while at the same time saving taxpayers the expense of a jury trial,” City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said in a statement. “The company has taken responsibility for the violations. More importantly, I believe Kalitta will take appropriate steps to avoid these kinds of operations in the future.”
According to a release, Long Beach Airport staff contacted Kalitta after each event in hopes of preventing additional violations.
Under the city’s noise ordinance, departing aircraft may not exceed a specified decibel level, ranging from 79 decibels during night hours to 102.5 decibels during the day, officials said.
Kalitta has not violated the city’s ordinance since the case was filed in April, according to city officials.
The settlement marks the fourth “consent decree” settlement for noise violations at the airport, with similar consent decrees entered into over a decade ago, including Komar Aviation, JetBlue Airways and American Airlines, the release stated.